Sabres' Wilson is glad to be with Buffalo

Denver, CO (WGR 550) - Scott Wilson arrived in Denver and had his first practice with his new team. He played on a line with Kyle Okposo and Evan Rodrigues.

Wilson and Rodrigues know each other very well as they played on the same team as kids.

Wilson will get into the lineup for Zemgus Girgensons. Girgensons doesn’t have a point in 19 games. Phil Housley said, “We have to make some tough decisions and give some other guys an opportunity, we’ve got to find the right combination, so Zemgus won’t play tonight.”

Wilson didn’t play much in Detroit because he was brought in to help with the Red Wings Salary Cap situation. The winger was drafted and developed by Jason Botterill in Pittsburgh. With that in mind, he’s glad to be reunited, “I can’t tell you how excited I am to get a shot here, obviously I’ve known Botsy which makes it a little bit easier of a transition for me, but they’re trying to turn it around here and I’m excited to be a part of that.”

Wilson was lucky to get eight minutes a game with the Red Wings. He was traded there from Pittsburgh in late October and he said being traded twice in a month is no big deal, “This time it wasn’t even that weird because I had just gotten through it a month ago, but the guys have given me a warm welcome here, so it’s been an easy transition.”

Botterill is big on building from the minor leagues on up. Wilson went through it and said you learn a lot, “I think that nothing is given to you. It just so happened that we all came up together to Pittsburgh, so that definitely made it easier.

“He was the first guy to create that culture of guys competing against each other.”

The lines on Tuesday morning were:

Kane Eichel Pominville

Pouliot O’Reilly Fasching

Wilson Rodrigues Okposo

Nolan Larsson Reinhart

Scandella Ristolainen

McCabe Bogosian

Gorges Antipin

Robin Lehner will get the start in goal. Justin Falk will be scratched and Nate Beaulieu is still sick and is not in Denver

The Avalanche have lost four out of five and are in last place in the Central Division. In their last game they lost here at home to Dallas 7-2.

Nate MacKinnon was the NHL's first star in November picking up 20 points in 12 games.

Former Sabres 2nd round pick J.T. Compher has been on MacKinnon's left wing. He has four goals and four assists for eight points in 19 games. Fomrer Sabres number one pick Nikita Zadorov is still a healthy scratch from time to time, but has three goals and two assists in 20 games.

Semyon Varlamov is 8-5-1 in goal with a 3.09 goals against and .905 save percentage.

Join Brian Koziol for the pregame at 8:00 when he'll be joined by Phil Housley, Jack Eichel, Evan Rodrigues and Scott Wilson